Firecracker Metal
Canada’s Protest The Hero follow up their 2005 debut album ‘Kezia’ with the eagerly awaited ‘Fortress’. You can play buzzword bingo with the press release (paradigms anyone?) and it almost feels like I’m not worthy of listening to this album. The phrase ‘…a collection of songs that can be listened to in a group or as individuals’ is really an eye opener. After all these years I hadn’t realised that you could listen to only a couple or indeed one song from an album rather than the whole thing (that's going to free up so much of my time). What a genius idea. It could spark a trend where bands release a single song from their album, and these songs could be sold separately and their sales figures calculated into some sort of chart. Diabolical press releases put to one side, ‘Fortress’ is an accomplished and well-written piece of modern, cutting edge metal. It takes influences from punk, prog, classic and power metal and merges them into a fiery youth driven formula that incorporates a plethora of riffs, a tidal wave of pace and a treasure chest of musicianship.
The fact that Protest The Hero were formed only 7 years ago when the boys were only 14 makes the musicianship on ‘Fortress’ simply stunning. The album is littered with intense guitar work of scales, arpeggios and harmonies. This axe-play is cunningly woven into the fabric of the songs, which, are all held together by main vocalist Rody Walker. Guitarists Tim Millar and Luke Hoskin really excel in the guitar wankery category causing the songs themselves to almost become guitar solos. I must admit, as a guitar player myself, at times it’s a little too much. I longed for more chugging and rhythm based riffs. It’s almost like firecracker music. It explodes then explodes again and again until it reaches the end before it start all over again on the next track.
Thankfully the band has managed to avoid the screamo style vocals. Rody uses his powerful clean range to add spears of singable melody into the frantic music. The rest of the band chip in with grunts, screams and growls, and I have to say that the variation in vocals works a treat because nothing is over done and Rody’s excellent voice shines through. If you cross Mendeed with Dragonforce you’ll be in the same ballpark as Protest The Hero, as long as the ballpark is quite vast, but I’m sure you get the idea.
‘Fortress’ is an accomplished piece of work. As with everything in music it’s down to individual taste. The music is very frantic, fragmented and all over the place. At times it works brilliantly. Tracks such as 'Sequoia Throne' and 'The Dissentience' are packed full of supersonic playing and electrifying ideas. However, a whole album of such bedlam takes a while to digest and this is where the individual taste aspect plays its part. It maybe too hectic for many palettes. There’s rarely a definitive riff for each song letting the deluge of ideas make up for the one truly titanic lick. Although the press release says otherwise, it does feel like throwing riffs into the songs for riffs sake. It’s an acquired taste, a taste that’s more contemporary than classic. Having said that Protest The Hero has managed to make the songs incredibly listenable and accessible. This is their niche and the feature that makes them a class act. Well done.